(a) It is the intent of the Legislature that youth with a high school diploma or California high school equivalency certificate who are detained in, or committed to, a Department of Youth and Community Restoration facility shall have access to rigorous postsecondary academic and career technical education programs that fulfill the requirements for transfer to the University of California and the California State University and prepare them for career entry, respectively.

(b) (1) The Department of Youth and Community Restoration shall, to the extent feasible using available resources, ensure that youth with a high school diploma or California high school equivalency certificate who are detained in, or committed to, a Department of Youth and Community Restoration facility have access to, and can choose to participate in, public postsecondary academic and career technical courses and programs offered online, and for which they are eligible based on eligibility criteria and course schedules of the public postsecondary education campus providing the course or program. The department is also encouraged to develop other educational partnerships with local public postsecondary campuses, as is feasible, to provide programs on campus and onsite at the Department of Youth and Community Restoration facility.

(2) These programs shall be considered part of the current responsibilities of the Department of Youth and Community Restoration to provide and coordinate services for youth that enable the youth to be law-abiding and productive members of their families and communities.

(c) For purposes of this section, “youth” means any person detained in, or committed to, a Department of Youth and Community Restoration facility.

(d) This section does not preclude youth who have not yet completed their high school graduation requirements from concurrently participating in postsecondary academic and career technical education programs.

(e) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2020.

(Repealed (in Sec. 3) and added by Stats. 2019, Ch. 857, Sec. 4. (SB 716) Effective January 1, 2020. Section operative July 1, 2020, by its own provisions.)